Value Of Labor Research Articles

Women’s Dilemma and Social Reflection in Film Narrative: A Case Study of Kim Ji-young, Born 1982

Kim Ji-young, Born 1982 portrays the life experiences of an ordinary woman navigating family, work, and society, exposing the patriarchal structures, female discipline, and reproductive oppression in South Korean society. Adapted from Cho Nam-joo’s novel, the film recounts Ji-young’s struggles in childhood and marriage, along with the mental distress caused by the pressures of balancing career and family. It powerfully illustrates how societal expectations lead women to lose their sense of self, highlighting the exploitation of emotional labor and unpaid housework. Ji-young’s story transcends individual experience, reflecting the broader structural gender inequality embedded in society. Upon release, the film sparked intense social debate, particularly from South Korean men, some of whom petitioned the Blue House to block the screening, accusing it of fueling gender conflict. This opposition reveals the patriarchal structure’s defensive response to challenges and men’s anxiety over losing status and privilege. This paper explores how government pro-natalist policies, under the guise of preserving family structures, further entrench the oppression of women’s reproductive and labor value.

Reclaiming and Unlocking Ancient Heritage Knowledge from Ethiopia’s Ancient Cultural Heritages

Abstract The purpose of this paper is to reclaim and unlock heritage knowledge related to the secular value of time and labor from a sample Ethiopian ancient Ge’ez parchment manuscript. We claim that Ethiopia’s ancient Ge’ez parchment manuscripts could be a source of heritage knowledge if systematically studied. We conducted an extensive and intensive survey to identify and select relevant ancient Ge’ez parchment manuscripts from ancient churches and monasteries in Tigray, Ethiopia. We selected one Ge’ez parchment manuscript for content analysis related to secular value time and another Ge’ez parchment manuscript for the secular value of labor and work ethics. Content analysis and interpretation including language translation from Ge’ez to Tigrinya and English was used as a method of heritage knowledge extraction, as were unlocking approaches from the selected sample Ge’ez parchment manuscripts. Digital content was also produced in order to have access to the digital content, which facilitates further content analysis. A critical evaluation of the physical condition of the sample manuscripts including their palaeography, folios, marginalia, and provenance was made in order to establish their relative age and credibility. From our content analysis, we extract and unlock valuable information and heritage knowledge domains related to the secular value of time and labor. The striking aspect in this study is that the sources of such heritage knowledge are the ancient Ge’ez manuscripts preserved for centuries in religious institutions like ancient churches and monasteries. These sources of heritage knowledge could be easily accepted by Christian farmers to address and solve their earthly problems. We, therefore, assert that the analysis of manuscripts democratizes access to knowledge, making historical collections accessible to a broader audience. Therefore, this current research paper extends the scope of previous studies from merely identifying preservation challenges and making ancient manuscripts accessible through digitization to conducting content analysis, unlocking relevant heritage knowledge domains, and disseminating the knowledge as well as preventing the loss of valuable heritage knowledge. Finally, we suggest making a paradigm shift from preserving heritage for its own sake to focusing on heritage knowledge transfer and education. This is mainly because we currently stand at a crossroads, facing a dilemma between valuing and utilizing heritage on one hand and ensuring its sustainable preservation on the other.

Analysis on the Current Situation of Labor Values of Primary School Students in China

Analysis on the Current Situation of Labor Values of Primary School Students in China

Ideology at Work? Rethinking Reproduction

The low value of reproductive labor, and the related “crisis of care,” are often attributed to gendered attitudes about work. This article traces this explanation to the attempted synthesis of Marxist and feminist theories of ideology in the 1970s and offers a sympathetic critique with implications for both contemporary theories of labor and the “new ideology critique.” It reconstructs the explanatory role of ideology in feminist analyses of unwaged housework and tracks its uptake in theories of “reproductive labor” more broadly, via what I call the “naturalization thesis.” While these analyses have been influential, I show that they do not provide a convincing account of either gender oppression or the low value of reproductive labor. I offer an alternative explanation for the latter rooted in labor processes and patterns of capital accumulation and argue for the reintegration of ideology critique with the critique of political economy.

Changes in the problem and subject field of labor sociology against the backdrop of the time challenges (Based on publications in the journal “Sociological Studies” over 50 years)

Trends in the problem and subject field of labor sociology were identified by referring to the Sociological Studies journal publications for 1974–2023. An array of 351 articles on labor sociology was selected for qualitative and quantitative content analysis. Eleven problematic subject areas of research were identified by the criterion of the leading target of the article’s text. Fourtime frames in Russian society and economic development over the past 50 years have been distinguished to identify the time challenges that vary in content. Each period was provided with a brief description of the content of the research problem and subject areas, as well as interpretations thereof with due consideration of the time challenges. Analysis of the publications permitted to reveal that by the criteria of how frequent and stable the sociologists’ referrals to the selected areas have been, the core, the margins, and the mobile realm may be identified in the Russian sociology of labor. The core is formed by the areas related to the studies of labor attitudes, labor incentives, labor values, employee behavior, and job satisfaction. The areas – whose principal object of study is labor itself, along with its role and significance in both the society and the employees’ values as well as social problems of work at the enterprise – are adjacent to the core. The margins are formed by rare areas of research such as the workers’ capacity to act, manifestations of independence and involvement in the organization’s affairs, problems of the socioeconomic standing of workers and degree of labor protection, labor culture, shortage and reproduction of workers. The mobile realm of labor sociology is composed by the areas treated generally depending on the context of time and the aggravation of particular problem situations (labor organization, labor relations, precarity of labor, etc). We observed adequate coverage of the critical time challenges in publications in all those time frames; however, that coverage was reactive and appeared to lack forward-looking ideas that are ahead of theory and practice.

Changing values of work (based on the materials from Russian and foreign publications)

The sphere of work, which was previously central to Soviet and Russian sociology constantly covered in the Sociological Studies journal, is no longer so, although work remains an important subject of research in the conditions of the challenging digital transformation and growing uncertainty. Based on the analysis of domestic and foreign publications, the authors tried to identify current trends in the development of research that reflect global and regional changes in labor. Solving this problem allows the authors to show which problems attract the prime attention of scientists from different countries, and define the prospects for the future research. The authors show the discussion conducted by researchers on the topic of changing labor values. Particular attention is paid to how precarization is analyzed and the growth of the “meaninglessness” of labor is argued. A significant similarity of the identified problems in Russia and foreign countries is emphasized, regardless of the fact that they belong to different levels of socio-economic development, differ in work culture and other characteristics.

Economic Analysis of Seed Spice Cultivation in Gujarat, India

The present investigation was carried out to study the cost of cultivation and returns per hectare of major seed spices in Gujarat. The study was conducted at Banaskantha district for cumin and fennel as per the second highest triennium average area of cumin and fennel and at Junagadh district for coriander as it shows the highest triennium average area of coriander respectively during the year of 2023-24. In Gujarat for 2023-24, cumin cultivation incurred significant costs with hired labour as the largest component at 15.80 per cent, followed closely by family labour (15.65%) and rental value of owned land (13.44%). Fennel farms saw average costs of ₹70468.90 per hectare, peaking at ₹71356.01 on large farms and lowest at ₹67208.33 on small farms, with family labour (17.25%), irrigation (16.04%) and land rental (15.64%) as major expenses. Similarly, coriander farms had an average cost of ₹75939.26 per hectare, highest on large farms at ₹76551.63 and lowest on small farms at ₹74160.06, with rental value on owned land (18.95%), hired labour (16.35%), and family labour (11.74%) being significant costs. Costs increased with farm size across all crops. Cumin proved most profitable with an input-output ratio of 1:3.08, compared to fennel (1:1.48) and coriander (1:1.76) in the same period.

A Comparison of Labor Competence of College Students in Different Educational Tracks: A Study Based on a Survey in Guangxi University of Foreign Languages

This article is a case study of students' labor competence in two different educational tracks from the Guangxi University of Foreign Languages. According to research findings, there was no significant difference in the overall level of labor competence between ordinary undergraduates and vocational students, and there were disparities in labor competence in specific dimensions, including labor consciousness, labor knowledge, labor qualities, and labor creativity, between the two groups. Ordinary undergraduates significantly outperformed vocational college students in the dimension of labor consciousness, whereas the latter scored higher in the dimension of labor knowledge. Both groups scored poorly in terms of labor creativity. Also discussed is the importance of cultivating innovation ability, building labor knowledge, shaping labor values, and improving off-campus labor education participation among college students.

Workforce Configuration in Charity Settings: A Forward-Looking Approach

Problem definition: Volunteers, the primary workforce for many charities, represent a complex labor pool; they are unreliable and exhibit substantial heterogeneity in both performance and affinity to the organization. Additionally, many volunteers engage not only to contribute but also to immerse themselves in a volunteering experience that, if rewarding, can inspire them to become future donors. However, practical approaches to volunteer management commonly neglect these traits and the consequential impact that tactical decision-making can have on nurturing potential future donations. Methodology/results: Building on a previous study, we propose a forward-looking volunteer scheduling model that accounts for the heterogeneity among volunteers, mitigates both understaffing and overstaffing costs, and explicitly correlates individual time contribution with their monetary donations. We provide analytical solutions when the charity can reliably estimate distributions (e.g., uniform distribution) from data and suggest a distribution-free method to offer actionable insights where data are limited or uncertain. Managerial implications: At the strategic level, by viewing volunteers as potential donors, the optimal staffing strategy balances meeting the charity’s labor needs and maximizing volunteers’ satisfaction, as this satisfaction influences their likelihood of becoming future donors. We show that charities could avert substantial losses by adopting an integrative approach, thereby challenging conventional organizational structures that compartmentalize volunteer and donor management. Our model suggests that building robust data infrastructures can significantly advance the charity’s core mission. Paradoxically, efforts to increase labor productivity may inadvertently undermine this objective. At the operational level, we provide an Excel-based decision support tool and a decision-tree framework to navigate optimal policies, determining when and how a charity can rely on episodic (less reliable) volunteers. Our results confirm that reducing uncertainty in volunteer turnout benefits charities. However, we also find that when labor value is low, episodic volunteers are preferred, whereas formal (reliable) volunteers are favored when labor value is high. Supplemental Material: The online appendix is available at https://doi.org/10.1287/msom.2022.0363 .

Beyond productivism: on the social and ecological value of distributive labour: a commentary on ‘Postgrowth welfare systems: a view from the Nordic context’ by Riya Raphael et al

Beyond productivism: on the social and ecological value of distributive labour: a commentary on ‘Postgrowth welfare systems: a view from the Nordic context’ by Riya Raphael et al

LABOR VALUES IN THE PERCEPTION OF THE MILLENNIAL GENERATION IN THE CONDITIONS OF DIGITALIZATION

The purpose of the article is to explore the perception of work values as a marker of identity by the millennial generation in the context of the global digitalization of society. The millennial generation, being a significant part of the country’s economically active population, demonstrates its understanding of decent work, expressed in work preferences and value orientations, which, in turn, serves to determine the identity of this age group. Digitalization has contributed to the development and diversification of the employment sector by offering alternative forms, which has greatly changed the understanding of decent work. Based on data from a sociological study of formalized interviews among representatives of the millennial generation (n = 300), the key components of work values and their influence on the professional activity of representatives of the generation being studied were identified. The desire of millennials for career growth and professional self-improvement as the main labor value has been established; we can talk about a balance between external and internal labor orientations. It was revealed that an integral part of decent work for them is the presence of an expanded social package, including voluntary health insurance (VHI), and flexible work schedules. Millennials demonstrate high adaptability to changing conditions of the labor market and openness to innovation in organizing the labor process, which is manifested in a preference for remote forms of employment, opportunities for retraining and development. In the future, it is possible to study the attitudes towards work of millennials and centennials from a comparative perspective. The results of the article are of interest to those specializing in the field of sociology of labor and sociology of youth. The sociological research data can be used in the practical organization of labor activities to optimize personnel management and create a corporate culture that meets the needs of the new generation of workers.

The Youth of the Republic of Bashkortostan: Labor Values, Economic Behavior and Social Capital in Modern Society

This paper examines the situation of youth in the modern society of the Republic of Bashkortostan. The analysis of labor values, economic behavior and social capital of young people, as well as their role in shaping the future of the region, is carried out. The study is based on sociological data that allow us to identify the main trends and problems in the life of young people. In the course of the work, the works devoted to the labor values of youth, their economic behavior, as well as the issue of the social capital of young people were studied. Special attention is paid to the financial situation of young people, their economic values, such as attitudes to work, consumption, lending and savings, financial planning, and entrepreneurship. The issues of values, priorities and goals of the younger generation are also considered. The results of the study can be useful for the development of youth policy. В данной работе рассматривается положение молодёжи в современном обществе Республики Башкортостан. Проводится анализ трудовых ценностей, экономического поведения и социального капитала молодых людей, а также их роли в формировании будущего региона. Исследование опирается на социологические данные, которые позволяют выявить основные тенденции и проблемы в жизни молодёжи. В ходе работы были изучены труды, посвящённые трудовым ценностям молодёжи, её экономическому поведению, а также вопросу социального капитала молодых. Особое внимание уделяется финансовому положению молодёжи, её экономическим ценностям, таким как отношение к труду, потреблению, кредитованию и сбережениям, финансовому планированию, предпринимательству. Также рассматриваются вопросы ценностей, приоритетов и целей молодого поколения. Результаты исследования могут быть полезны для разработки молодежной политики.

European Union gender equality and work–life balance policies: managing tensions between the demands of production and reproduction

European Union (EU) gender equality policies increasingly acknowledge the existence of tensions between the demands of productive and reproductive labour, with the former defined as waged work and the latter as the (unpaid) activities reproducing the labour force and provisioning for caring needs. As women increasingly enter the labour market, the EU addresses the growing tensions through new gender equality policy initiatives, prompting the question of whether these recognise the value of reproductive labour to the economy. This article analyses the discourses of three EU institutions (the European Commission, Council of the EU and European Parliament) and finds that EU policy as a whole continues to prioritise the interests of the productive economy. This results in a loss of the emancipatory potential of its gender equality goals, in particular, for women from working-class, minority ethnic or migration backgrounds.

Unequal exchange of labour in the world economy

Researchers have argued that wealthy nations rely on a large net appropriation of labour and resources from the rest of the world through unequal exchange in international trade and global commodity chains. Here we assess this empirically by measuring flows of embodied labour in the world economy from 1995–2021, accounting for skill levels, sectors and wages. We find that, in 2021, the economies of the global North net-appropriated 826 billion hours of embodied labour from the global South, across all skill levels and sectors. The wage value of this net-appropriated labour was equivalent to €16.9 trillion in Northern prices, accounting for skill level. This appropriation roughly doubles the labour that is available for Northern consumption but drains the South of productive capacity that could be used instead for local human needs and development. Unequal exchange is understood to be driven in part by systematic wage inequalities. We find Southern wages are 87–95% lower than Northern wages for work of equal skill. While Southern workers contribute 90% of the labour that powers the world economy, they receive only 21% of global income.

Artificial Intelligence, Post-Work and Music Labor

The recent – purportedly rapid – development of AI tools has again resurrected the actuality of post-work u-/dystopias. Drawing on discursive topoi which have become popular since the post-WW2 automatization surge, AI post-work now advances into the field of white-collar labor, but also creative, artistic, and even music labor. In this paper I aim to analyze the emergent arrival of the post-work thesis into music labor. I will draw on prominent critics of automatization, AI and post-work discourses, such as Pierre Naville, Aaron Benanav and Jason Resnikoff, to show that these discourses are not only unsubstantiated, but are instrumentalized in order to depreciate the value of concrete labor in music production.

Disposability, social security, and the facts of work in Nicaragua’s sugarcane zone

ABSTRACT This article explores the instability of facts surrounding former sugarcane workers in Nicaragua with Chronic Kidney Disease of Non-Traditional Causes (CKDnt). CKDnt is a progressive disease that has been linked, albeit inconclusively, to working conditions in sugarcane plantations and other extreme environments. It emerged in the early twenty-first century, at a time when the social and political value of agricultural labor in Nicaragua and across the Americas was shifting due to the rise of new regimes of corporate responsibility and neoliberalized systems of state care. Partly as a result of a lack of conclusive knowledge about what causes the disease, former workers receive uneven medical and social benefits from both sugarcane corporations and the Nicaraguan social security system, the Instituto Nacional de Seguridad Social (INSS). This article traces the parallel emergence of Nicaragua’s agro-economy and the INSS during the twentieth century, and it draws on ethnographic research with ex-workers to understand how the making of facts about work and the making of facts about health shape each other. The article argues that the disposability of labor is not an inherent feature of monocrop capitalism; rather, disposability emerges as corporations and state authorities work strategically to manage the inherent porosity of the boundaries between plantations and their socio-political surroundings.

The cost of total hip arthroplasty: compare the hospitalization costs of national centralized procurement and national volume-based procurement.

With the increasing demand for joint replacement surgery in China, the government has successively issued the policies of national centralized procurement (NCP) and national volume-based procurement (NVBP) of artificial joints. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of NCP and NVBP policies on hospitalization cost, rehospitalization and reoperation rate of total hip arthroplasty (THA). In total, 347 patients who underwent THA from January 2019 to September 2022 were retrospectively analyzed. According to the implementation of NCP and NVBP, patients were divided into three groups: control group (n = 147), NCP group (n = 130), and NVBP group (n = 70). Patient-level data on the total hospitalization costs, rehospitalization rate, THA reoperation rate and inpatient component costs were collected before and after the implementation of the policies and Consumer Price Index was used to standardize the cost. After the implementation of NCP and NVBP, the total cost of hospitalization decreased by $817.41 and $3950.60 (p < 0.01), respectively. The implantation costs decreased from $5264.29 to $4185.53 and then rapidly to $1143.49 (p < 0.01), contributing to increased total cost savings. However, the cost of surgery and rehabilitation increased after NCP and NVBP implementation (p < 0.01). The proportion of implants decreased from 66.76 to 59.22% and then to 29.07%, whereas that of drugs increased from 7.98 to 10.11% and then to 12.06%. The proportion of operating expenses rose from 4.86 to 8.01% and then to 18.47%. Univariate linear regression analysis showed that hospital stay, NCP and NVBP were correlated with total hospitalization cost (p < 0.01). Multivariate analysis showed that hospital stay, NCP and NVBP were independent predictors of total hospitalization cost (p < 0.01). In this study, hospital stay, NCP, and NVBP were independent predictors of total inpatient costs. After the implementation of NVBP policy, the cost of implants and hospitalization has decreased significantly, and the technical labor value of medical staff has increased, but a multifaceted method is still needed to solve the problem of increasing costs of other consumables. Limitations of the study suggest the need for further and more comprehensive evaluation in the future.

Green Transformation: Trends and Prospects of Green Jobs in Romania

Green Transformation: Trends and Prospects of Green Jobs in Romania. This study investigates the trends and potential of green jobs in Romania, particularly focusing on sectors crucial to the green economy, such as agriculture, energy, and waste management. The emergence of green jobs signifies a shift towards ecological sustainability and economic resilience, highlighted by the growth in sectors A (Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing), D (Electricity, Gas, Steam, and Air Conditioning Supply), and E (Water Supply; Sewerage, Waste Management, and Remediation Activities) from NACE rev.2 codes. The analysis reveals an evolving labor market, with an increase in sustainable agricultural practices and a shift towards more sustainable energy production methods. Furthermore, significant increases in average annual net wages across these sectors from 2018 to 2023 suggest an appreciation of labor value in green jobs, potentially reflecting heightened demand, technological advancements, and a shift towards more specialized skill sets. This study contributes to the academic discourse on green jobs, offering valuable insights for policymakers, industry stakeholders, and the labor market in fostering a sustainable and resilient economy. Future research should address methodological limitations, explore the impact of policy interventions, and examine the role of technological advancements in developing green jobs in Romania. Keywords: green jobs; sustainable development; GIS; agriculture; energy; waste management; labor market dynamics; Romania.

On the value of human labour and creativity in the video game industry

On the value of human labour and creativity in the video game industry

Praca w Hucie Katowice. Próba antropologii na rzecz zmiany

The purpose of this article is to answer questions related to the value of work in post-modern society. We answer questions about what good work is and what values are attributed to it, based on material elicited during anthropological fieldwork and interviews with employees of the Katowice Steelworks. We pose the above questions in the context of the labor crisis associated with the compromising of indicators that determine development, such as productivity and GDP. Having identified the value of labor, we present in the article the crises it is experiencing and possible directions for its transformation. Key-words: labor, Katowice Steelworks, anthropology of labor, transformation, working class